Guj Cong faces dissent before 2019 poll prep

AHMEDABAD: The brewing dissent in the Gujarat Congress boiled over on Tuesday when its workers stormed the party headquarters in Ahmedabad and disrupted a press conference of their state unit chief Amit Chavda. The violent protests followed Monday’s announcement of 10 new district presidents of the party.

The cracks started surfacing last week when a few senior MLAS expressed their unhappiness with the state leadership and several lower-rung workers in districts tendered their resignations. The disgruntled workers, protesting against the appointment of Shashikant Patel as city unit chief, ransacked the ground floor that houses the party president’s office. They wanted Nirav Bakshi for the post. “I appeal to the workers to put a united fight against the BJP when the people have lost faith in it,” Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

The protests came on a day when BJP president Amit Shah was in Ahmedabad to begin the party’s preparations for 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Party president Rahul Gandhi had put a young leadership at the helm of state affairs after a remarkable performance in the assembly elections last year by winning 77 of the total 182 seats — the first time since 1995. It was an attempt to revamp the party with young leaders in the state ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“Not with the party, I am unhappy with state leadership,’’ Congress’ Saurashtra strongman Indranil Rajyaguru said on Tuesday.

Kunwarji Bawalia, one of three leaders from Saurashtra with Vikram Madam and Javeed Pirzada to express their disappointments with the party state of affairs, also created a stir with his surprise visit to Ahmedabad on Tuesday when Shah was around.